The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Don’t go looking for trouble

If we’re meant to take one lesson from this week’s episode of The Walking Dead, it’s this: Don’t be like Henry, DON’T go looking for trouble.

Henry…is kind of a dumb kid, isn’t he? Sure, he knows how to fight, but, his bright idea to track a group of about thirty weirdos (Who wear walker skin masks, by the way) into some random part of the Virginia wilderness with nothing but a staff to defend himself was….not that bright. In fact, it nearly resulted in him being killed.

…Yeah, great idea, kid.

Seeing that, however, made me realize something I think people might occasionally ignore in a zombie apocalypse: If you have the option to go looking for trouble, don’t take it.

Care for an example? How about this: If you run into hostiles, and you aren’t very good at stealth or tracking, it might be a good idea not to follow them.

You see, while scouting an enemy is important, if you’re as discreet as a galloping truck horse, you will be absolute garbage as a scout, will end up getting caught, and most likely, killed.

You need to learn how to be quiet and be sneaky if you plan on surviving long in a zombie apocalypse, or else you’ll let every murderous thing within five miles know you’re coming.

Since I’m obviously referencing Henry, let’s stick with him for a minute and address another problem with his unsuccessful tracking attempt: He was grossly outnumbered, outgunned, and overpowered by The Whisperers; He stood no chance of surviving if he got caught.

What, exactly, was his plan? Try to follow The Whisperers until nightfall, then, in complete darkness, try to get to Lydia and convince her to come back with him, all without alerting any of The Whisperers?

And, what strategy did he have for getting caught? Hope that only one Whisperer found him, knock them out, and then hope that no one else found him?

Let’s face it, if he had gotten into a serious fight with them, The Whisperers would have beaten the crap out of him. At best. At worst, they would have gutted him like a fish and thrown him to the walkers. Once again, great idea. Oh, wait, no.

My point: Don’t get in over your head. Assess your situation before doing something that could easily get you killed. A little thinking can save your life.

But, let’s not pick on poor Henry too much, after all, he’s a damn sight better than Helen, the Whisperer who challenged Alpha for control of the group in this week’s episode.

She decided to try to have her boyfriend, Sean, challenge Alpha (Without first dealing with the very scary Beta, I might add), then, when confronted, tried to call Alpha out, before realizing nobody was going to back her up, then, trying to get out of the whole thing by chickening out, and telling the very violent Alpha that she didn’t want to fight.

Not surprisingly, she did not last very long.

The moral of the story? When confronted with hostiles, do not pick a fight with them unless A) your survival depends on it, or B) You truly believe you can win. If you don’t have to fight, and you genuinely aren’t confident you can win…what the hell are you fighting them for? At the first sign of trepidation, your enemy will take advantage and murder you, just like Alpha did to Helen.

There are going to be a truckload of things out to kill you in a zombie apocalypse. Do yourself a favor, and don’t go looking for those things if you don’t have to.

This is why you follow…The Rules.

And that’s our Survival Rule Of The Week! Hopefully, you’ve gained a little insight into all the various things you’ll need to look out for. If you like this and want to find out more rules to survive the zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!